In 1870, Christiana Edmunds was living in Brighton with her mother and having an affair with her across-the-street neighbor, Doctor Arthur Beard. At some point towards the end of the year, Beard let her know that he wanted to end the affair. He was married. He wasn’t going to leave his wife. So Edmunds decided that he wouldn’t have to. She visited the house with some chocolate creams. Mrs. Beard ate one, and promptly got very sick. She recovered. The doctor suspected something, but didn’t want anyone to know about his affair, and when he confronted Edmunds, she loudly claimed that she, too had eaten a chocolate and gotten sick.

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In 1871, a great deal of people became ill in that neighborhood — most of them after purchasing chocolate creams from the local store. The symptoms coincided with those of strychnine poisoning… –Esther Inglis-Arkell (read the rest of the story at io9)

Fiction Writing Prompt: Write the story of a poisoner.

Journaling Prompt: Do you allow any part of your life to be ruled by fear?

A clam-bake is a delight wherever and whenever partaken of, but when it is prepared in the piney woods of Cape Cod by the inimitable skippers of Buzzards Bay it is something that is not to be forgotten. It is a joy, from the gathering of the first stone to the swallowing of the last possible clam. –Suppers: Novel Suggestions for Social Occasions by Paul Pierce

Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story set at a clam bake.

Journaling Prompt: Reminisce about your favorite outdoor meal.

Art Prompt: Clam Bake

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Tell your audience an amusing story about an outdoor meal you shared with family and/or friends.

Welcome to the Carnival of Creativity for July 26, 2015. All links will open in a new tab or window, so feel free to click through and leave some love in the comments. Once you close that window, you’ll be right back here for more linky goodness.